BSY calling for protests demanding implementation of guarantees is "political gimmick": K'taka CM
Bengaluru, June 26: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa has "no moral rights" to call for protests demanding that the Congress government implement its poll guarantees and termed it as a "political gimmick".
Noting that the Congress has fulfilled the poll promises while in power in the past, he said, this time too it has already taken a decision to implement five "guarantees" announced in the election manifesto.
"What moral right he (Yediyurappa) has? He was the President of the party, then he became the Chief Minister, did he implement the promises made in the (BJP) manifesto? No, when such being the case, what moral right does he have? He has no moral rights," Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "as far as the Congress party is concerned, we have implemented all the promises we had made in the 2013 manifesto (while in power from 2013-18), now we have made a promise to implement five guarantees, we have already taken a decision to implement all of them."
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"Whatever Mr Yediyurappa is doing is only a political gimmick," he added.
Announcing that BJP will hold protests both inside and outside the Assembly during legislature session, demanding the Congress government in the state to implement its poll guarantees, Yediyurappa on Sunday said he will lead agitations in front of Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha, from July four.
Asking people and party workers to come on to the streets, demanding the Congress government to implement their guarantee card in toto, the former CM had said, it has already been one-and-a-half months since coming to power, and the government is still "dilly dallying".
The Legislature Session is scheduled from July 3 to 14, which will also see the new government tabling a fresh budget.
The five guarantees are: up to 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of free rice to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders, both in the age group of 18-25 (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).
While the government has already launched the scheme which will provide free travel for women in public transport buses, the other four schemes are in various stages of implementation, and the timeline has already been fixed for their rollout.
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Ahmedabad plane crash: Six months on, college hostel lies in ruins, sans bustle of students
Ahmedabad (PTI): Six months after the AI-171 plane crash, the B J Medical College hostel complex in Ahmedabad stands as a haunting reminder, with its charred walls and burnt trees replacing the once lively chatter of students with an eerie stillness.
Scattered across the crash site are grim remnants of daily life - burnt cars and motorcycles, twisted beds and furniture, charred books, clothes and personal belongings.
The Atulyam-4 hostel building and the adjoining canteen complex stand abandoned, with entry strictly prohibited.
For residents near the site, memories of the incident still linger, casting a lasting shadow on their lives, with some of them saying they are still afraid to look up at the sky when an aircraft passes overhead.
On June 12, Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London, crashed moments after take-off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 260 persons.
The aircraft slammed into the BJ Medical College hostel complex in Meghaninagar, turning a lively student neighbourhood into a landscape of ruin and grief.
"The area now lies very silent, only a few birds chirp here," Sanjaybhai, a security guard deployed at the premises by authorities to prevent trespassing, told PTI.
Mahendrasingh Jadeja, a general store owner whose shop is just 50 metres from the point where the aircraft struck, described it as an unimaginable calamity. "In all my years, I have never seen anything like this."
Pointing to a tree behind his shop, the 60-year-old said the aircraft first struck there before crashing into the hostel building.
"It was a scorching summer afternoon. Not many people were outside. When I heard a loud crashing sound, I ran out of my shop. We were all terrified," he recalled.
"Even today, we instinctively look up whenever a plane passes overhead," he added.
Another local, Manubhai Rajput, who lives barely 200 metres from the site, said he witnessed the horror unfold on June 12.
"The plane was flying unusually low. Before I could understand what was happening, there was thick black smoke and a deafening crash," he said.
For over three decades, Rajput and his neighbours lived close to the airport without giving much thought to the aircraft overhead.
"We never looked up at the sky. But that day is etched in my mind. The plane hit a tree first, and then there was a loud sound," he said.
Rajput recalled how hundreds of locals rushed to the site even before police, fire services or the Army arrived.
Tinaben, another resident of Meghaninagar, said she never imagined something like this could happen in Ahmedabad.
"Despite being close to the airport, this area always felt safe," she said.
As an aircraft roared overhead during the conversation, Tinaben paused, looked up nervously and said, "It's still scary."
A senior official of Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the state government has yet to decide what to do with the damaged site.
Currently, investigations are going on and the site is strictly prohibited for people, he added.
